Garden of Eden
by batman4life
Summary: Batman vs Poison Ivy! Note: Epilogue to the events of Batman: Arkham Origins BTW: I put a T rating up here, but really, there's no profane langue or sexual content in here. This is the origin story for Poison Ivy. It's takes place directly after the events of Arkham Origins. Overall, anyone should be able to enjoy this story! Thanks!


Dear Reader:

Believe it or not, I actually got a chapter down on the "Garden of Eden" story over the past month or so. I consider it a milestone I was actually able to back up all my thoughts with actual words, and I was pretty proud of it. Until I read it.

Now, don't get me wrong. It's great, it's definitely something, but it's something that has already been done before. The original concept for "Garden Of Eden" was simple. It's post Arkham-City, the evident epilogue to the video game's definitive conclusion. In the timeline, though, I still based it at about an hour or two after the events at the end of the game, so thanks to the mass death and destruction already inflicted on the walled off prison not to mention the many super-villains and inmates still unaccounted for, the state of Arkham City is on shaky ground. The GCPD is still trying to map together the pieces and figure out what's going on while putting a good chunk of Gotham's underworld back behind bars with Batman overseeing all this reconstruction while trying to do his part to reestablish order. Naturally, some villains haven't come out so quietly, and have even resorted to violence to extend their parole. Everyone is out of their cages, including the botanic beauty herself Poison Ivy who is the main focal point of the story.

Now, I know what you're about to say. Yes, that there was already a specific chapter written about how Poison Ivy escaped from Arkham City in Batman: Arkham City Lockdown, but no, I will not bet contradicting that as I consider Lockdown canon to the game, plus I won't just pretend that never happened. The story would've been an alternative to that, where Poison Ivy is fed up with the humans, and decides to unleash her full fury on Gotham City, starting in Arkham City. So, she would brainwash a whole lot of inmates with her pheromones, before retreating to her plant palace or whatever her hideout was. The GCPD would attempt to re-capture her, but their plan went south when she turned the tables on them and ended up capturing the main infiltration team, leaving James Gordon powerless to attack without risking the lives of his man. So, what does he do? Call Batman, that's who. So, he does, and to make an already long story short, Batman comes in, defeats Ivy, frees the men, and they take Ivy back to her cell. So, after reading this, you're probably wondering why this isn't published? Well, two reasons.

First, this would've likely been a one-chapter story. It has close to no real substance else than Batman taking down Poison Ivy in her lair, with no real twist or cameos from other villains. It would've been pretty one-dimensional for the most part, with nothing being accomplished. Ivy attacks Batman with her vines, he deduces some clever way to defeat her, and that's it. Second, I felt like this was a "been there, done there" route. I mean, it still works, but when you have a character like Poison Ivy, someone who justifies her acts by bringing up the fact that her "babies" were in danger or being threatened by the human race, and someone like Batman, who justifies who he is as a vigilante based on his own personal experience (i.e. the death of his parents by a criminal), there's got to be a connection there. These characters have very similar motivations for the things they do; it's just how they do it that sets them apart. Poison Ivy accomplishes her goals by literally doing anything it takes to ensure the safety of her plans, even resorting to violence or threats of genocide. She has no real moral center, no compassion for human life, only a cold, almost sadistic streak inside of her. Batman is of the same breed, someone who is not above the law but perceives himself to be in order to achieve his goals. He'll do anything to accomplish his goals, just anything not crossing the line between "morally ambiguous" and "downright heinous", hence his one rule. In order words, the main thing to set them apart is really a matter of ends vs means, where Ivy would do anything to achieve her own means, even at the cost of her own humanity, while the Dark Knight will do anything as long as he doesn't betray his one rule and lose that part of himself to keeps him sane, the part that distinguishes himself from all the other criminals. Then, I realized, what if there was a story about Batman and Poison Ivy's very first encounter, where Ivy was still partially sane without fully getting into her "Mother Nature" persona, but instead was this cruel, sadistic, and methodical human being, a contrast to the Dark Knight. It would be like seeing the monster in the inside before it was unleashed on the outside. Naturally, this would be set in the Arkham-Verse.

Now, if you got anything out of my last paragraph, you could probably figure out that that concept itself would make for a pretty compelling story right? A clash of philosophies, not only fists and kicks. You know something above the usual clichéd and generic "Damsel in the distress and hero to the rescue" sort thing. Heck, I'd say that that that would make for an awesome story worth checking out, so I did exactly that. I went on Fan Fiction, and I scrolled down the pages, looking for a story similar to what I just described. When that didn't work, I googled it, until I realized something. "Hey genius, they just made a game like this that explores Batman's very first encounters with his most prominent and key villains that helped establish and shape his character in the years to come," I thought, realizing that maybe with a game called "Batman: Arkham Origins", maybe they actually delivered on the _Origins_ part so there had to be something about Ivy. So, after getting it for Christmas, I played it. In case you were wondering, I beat it in like three days on "Hard Mode" during the break. Fun time, but after playing, I realized something. There's nothing implied or directly stated about Pamela Isley in this game, not a side-mission or even a cutscene/conversation between two criminals that fleshes out her backstory that was touched on in the Arkham games. So, I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that there wasn't anything in there explaining how Pamela Isley turned into Poison Ivy, one of Batman's most prominent and active adversaries, not even a single line. My guess is that they didn't want to overshadow the assassins (the new blood), because having the Joker in there was already a major risk considering his mainstream appeal compared to theirs. Man, I completed all the Riddler trophies, went back to his secret hideout, but still nada. So, after looking online, my hopes went up when it was announced that there would be new story-based DLC coming out, which introduced another key antagonist to the Dark Knight's legend. Let's just say that the picture included was a very _cold_ giveaway. So, after realizing that there was nothing in the game that included any content on Ivy, I decided to come up with my own interpretation of their first encounter, and how that would shape the two into the individuals that they would become in the later games. Not, that this is my own vision, hence the words _my_ and _own_, meaning that this is how I would've visualized it. (Now, if you have some input on how it should've on could've turned out, let me know. I'm always open to feedback, even negative ones. Anyways, back to the letter). Having played all three games, I think I have an idea of what the general tone is, and hopefully, I won't stray too far from it.

And, that brings us up to now. This story, for better or worse, will retell the first encounter between the two, their initial confrontation, and how it affected both of their lives. Also note, that this will take place directly after the events of "Batman: Arkham Origins", hence why there will be some references and characters taken directly from that game. Also, I will spoil the ending in the very first chapter, so heads up for you. Also, this is the same Batman from that game, so he hasn't really devoted his iconic calm and collected, stoic mannerisms yet, so he's a bit rough and feeling like he still has something to prove. This takes place approximately a few months after the events of Origins, and it shows how these events have shaped the characters introduced in the game afterwards. In light of spoilers, I won't list all the names, but I can assure you, I'll re-introduce some of the assassins back in and how they fared after the events of the story, along with a few other surprises. This is more of a Poison Ivy origin story, so I'll probably focus more on her just a bit more than Batman, since I feel like at the point where he is now, he's probably more mature and defined that the Batman first introduced in the beginning of the game. This will most involve him coping with these larger-than-life threats one at a time, and how they helped change his views on criminals, as well as how they affected his life and the lives of people all around him. I think, that by the end of this story, I can safety say (and hope) that Batman will change into the man that he is going into Arkham Asylum, while the world renowned botanist Pamela Isley will change into the mentally unstable Poison Ivy, a downright sadistic siren with a kiss of death. Unfortunately, I can't put a synopsis of the story in here, because frankly, I don't have one. Right now, I'm still debating about the steps that Isley does take transforming into Ivy, and whatnot. But rest assured, as soon as I can piece together the puzzle, I will post a new summary of this new project on my page.

In essence, this should hopefully explain my absence for writing, or at least explain why I haven't posted anything new. Now of course, this is just my message to you bringing you up to date, my actual stories have no due date. I'll try my hardest to churn them out, but in order for the creativity to flow, it can't be rushed. And neither can I. This is probably be a multi-chapter story, seeing that I have multiple layers of Pamela Isley to peel back, to fully explain how she got to the point she was in Asylum in City, including her physical appearance. Now, I can't promise that I'll use all of the characters introduced in Arkham Origins, as most of them have little to nothing to developing the story and better yet, have nothing good to contribute other than overshadow the main antagonist. For example, I doubt that the Joker had much to do with Poison Ivy being, well Poison Ivy, and it would just be out of place. Now, hopefully in a while (can't really list a specific date), but when I do, I will publish the newest addition. Thanks again for reading this long-winded speech of epic proportions, but in case you just skipped through everything in order to get to the very last paragraph, let me try to sum it up.

Out with the old story, in with the new story.

This will be a Poison Ivy origin story, one that takes place after the events of Batman: Arkham Origins, so the many references and characters taken from that particular string of events will tie directly into here.

This will be a multi-chapter story, meaning that this is very complex and multi-layered story, not just some generic "Batman saves the day" anecdote.

Thanks for reading!


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